MORE than half the young people in a Birmingham constituency are doing nothing, startling new figures have revealed.

MORE than half the young people in a Birmingham constituency are doing nothing, startling new figures have revealed.

There are 6,000 young people aged 16 to 24 in Hodge Hill who have no job and are not in education or training.

This is 54 per cent of the total population in that age group - the highest figure in any constituency in the country.

Conservatives today claimed the figures showed the Government had failed to deal with youth unemployment.

But the Department for Work and Pensions said the Government had introduced a range of measures to help young people find work.

The statistics, compiled by the House of Commons Library at the request of the Tories, show that of 96,000 young people in the West Midlands, 19 per cent are not in education, employment or training - known in official terminology as "neets".

In Sparkbrook and Small Heath, 32 per cent of the 4,000 young people are not in education, employment or training, 32 per cent of the population, while in Walsall North the "neets" figure is 41 per cent of 4,000 people.

In Ladywood, Birmingham, 5,000 young people are "neets" - 29 per cent of the total.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling said: "These figures give us a real insight into the scale of the social challenge we face in the West Midlands.

"To have as many as 50 per cent of young people not in education, employment or training in any area is completely unacceptable and it makes a mockery of government boasts that theyÕve solved youth unemployment."

The Department of Work and Pensions highlighted initiatives such as educational maintenance allowances, which pay youngsters small grants for staying in school or college, and Connexions, a careers and training advice service aimed at young people.

"The New Deal for Young People has reduced total and long term youth claimant unemployment, and independent evaluation found that without New Deal, six month plus youth claimant unemployment would be twice as high," a DWP spokesman said.